Congratulations to our Learning Zone Student Monitor, Amanda Lam. Amanda has successfully completed her 4 years at OCAD U with a Bachelor of Design. Although, Amanda was born in Canada she moved with parents to Mauritius when she was four. Her exposure to the design world came at a young age because her dad worked in advertising and her uncle was in the graphic design field. Both her dad and uncle are now owners of their design company.

LZ: What influenced your decision to major in Advertising?

AL: My dad told me that OCAD U was a really a good school and his creative directors studied there, so I should consider studying there too. When I came to Canada to study advertising it was primarily because my dad really encouraged me, but I ended up really liking OCAD, the design world itself and going into advertising.

Learning advertising at OCAD was really fun but also challenging. It was not what I thought it would be. At OCAD, the focus is on big ideas, concepts and how to bring an idea further and bigger. That’s what I really like about advertising; it puts the idea both squarely with problem solving of a business, and with the design and creative side — that’s fun.

With OCAD, I was exposed to real world clients and briefs and ended up winning the OCAD U Advertising Collaboration Masters Presentation, which was even more motivating. It was the first time I had the opportunity to work on real-life briefs, and it makes me want to do it more.

I’ve learned the importance of networking and making connections. Now that I’m graduating, I notice how more than ever how important it is to talk to people. For design there are a lot of opportunities, it’s just a matter of getting passed being scared about having no experience — just doing it even though you don’t know how to — that’s how I started. You make mistakes, but you have support from profs, parents, and friends to help you out.

My thesis group named ourselves Awkmob Agency because we bonded over awkward stories. Our group was considered the underdogs and nobody expected us to come in first and second in the Thesis Masters Presentations.

What did you most enjoy about your program?

I love the challenge. In the beginning, I went into the program thinking that I knew what advertising was about, big ads, fun ads but once studying advertising I learned things like copywriting, typography and the importance of design and a call into action. Brands want to see a return investment and getting your target to do something such as the poster may look nice but then what? It can be challenging.

I also liked all of my profs at OCAD, they were real world working people like actual creative directors. It was nice having their view on the industry especially because we are not close to that yet since we are still in school — they would be that step into the advertising world.

What was the most challenging about your program?

I think that advertising is very competitive and that competitive nature of advertising is reflected in our program, that was challenging. Seeing students from the other programs really friendly or chummy, kind of supporting each other but in our program, it is more like competition.

Coming up with new ideas that have not been done, it is something that any designer faces. In such a big world it’s kind of hard to come up with something completely new.

What do you most look forward to after graduation?

I was looking forward to going back home to the island, to the beach and resorts, and under the sun, but because of the pressures of finding a job, I’m staying in Toronto.

I’m looking forward to finding a job that I will actually like, and to keep on learning. The working world will be so different from being in school, so that is exciting, and a new challenge. Hopefully seeing my work out there, on T.V. or online — that would be cool.

What will you miss the most about OCAD University?

Being able to talk to different design creative students from the different programs at OCAD U. When you go to Grad-ex, you get to see all the students’ work, that you don’t see all year because you are in your own bubble — it’s cool to see other projects and what they are doing. Most of my friends are from illustration program so I’m going to miss them as they will still be here doing a 5th year and I will miss my job at the Learning Zone.